American manufacturer Kush Audio has announced it is now shipping the AU version of UBK-1, a three-stage dynamics processor with simultaneous serial and parallel audio paths that offer a high level of control over a sound’s shape, tone, and harmonic character.

The processor has three engines - Saturation, Compression, and Density. Five meticulously tweaked compressor curves are provided, all based on the popular UBK FATSO hardware. A high pass (HP) sidechain filter with an unusually wide frequency sweep allows for unorthodox shapes of compression. Two “Tele” style rockers control the wet/dry Mixes, and feature several optimized preset positions as well as fully variable operation. A Headroom control simultaneously adjusts the intensity of all three engines without affecting the dynamic interactions between them. At the end of the chain, the Density engine adds an additional frequency-selective compressor/harmonic saturator, with a switch for targeting the mids or highs. The cumulative effect of these three engines is a thickness and musicality typically associated with expensive analog processing.

“There’ve been a lot of hungry AU users dying to know when this beast will be ready,” said designer Gregory Scott. “I’m psyched to say the time is now.”

Pricing & Availability

UBK-1 costs $299 but is currently available for the half price introductory offer of $149.

Mac OS X AU and RTAS formats are available now with VST for both Mac OS X and Windows expected to be released in the forthcoming weeks (and AAX following immediately thereafter).